Medium or Message?: Language and Faith in Ethnic Churches (Linguistic Diversity and Language Rights) - Softcover

Woods, Anya

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1853597368 ISBN 13: 9781853597367

Verlag: Multilingual Matters, 2004

Inhaltsangabe

What is the role of language in ethnic churches? This new and much needed account of the Australian experience examines the issues faced by sixteen congregations, together representing different periods of Australia's migration history, as well as different languages, cultural backgrounds and Christian denominations. It brings to light a large range of experiences found in ethnic churches, and considers the impact of Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox traditions on the role of language. Special reference is made to the tensions that can occur due to language shift and cross-generational differences in language preference. The concept of 'language-religion ideology' is developed to describe the nature of the relationship between language and religion which is exhibited by a denomination with far-reaching implications for multilingual and multicultural societies.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

Anya Woods is an Honorary Fellow in the Research Unit for Multilingual and Cross-Cultural Communication which is located in the School of Languages at the University of Melbourne, and is also engaged on an occasional basis in projects with the Linguistics Program in the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics at Monash University.

Anya Woods is a Honorary Fellow in the Research Unit for Multilingual and Cross-Cultural Communication in the School of Languages at the University of Melbourne.

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Medium or Message?

Language and Faith in Ethnic Churches

By Anya Woods

Multilingual Matters

Copyright © 2004 Anya Woods
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-85359-736-7

Contents

List of Tables and Figures, vii, 
Series Editor's Foreword, ix, 
Preface, xi, 
Acknowledgements, xii, 
1 Establishing the Context of the Study, 1, 
2 Language-Religion Ideology in an Ethnic Church Context, 41, 
3 Views from the Pulpit, 52, 
4 Case Study 1: The Latvian Church, 65, 
5 Case Study 2: The Indonesian Church, 105, 
6 Some General Trends, 147, 
7 Towards a New Framework, 161, 
Appendix: Summary Tables of Data Gathered from Interviews with Ministers, 179, 
References, 213, 
Index, 217, 

CHAPTER 1

Establishing the Context of the Study

Introduction

The processes of immigration and refugee resettlement have brought to Australia a great diversity of peoples and with them many cultures, languages and faiths. Figures from the 2001 Census revealed that of the 68% of Australians who identify with the Christian religion (12.7 million), 1,746,452 – or 13.7% – speak a language other than English at home; thus a significant percentage of the population are likely to experience first hand the tensions that may exist where culture, language and faith intersect.

Many of these tensions are the result of having to find a place both within the Australian social culture as well as the Australian religious culture when these facets of the migrant's life are firmly bound in the experience of life beyond Australian shores. Whether the Christian migrant adopted the faith in Australia or in the home country, there lies the inevitable question of how this faith may be lived out in the Australian cultural context.

While the nature of the cultures from which migrants come varies enormously, so too do the circumstances under which they leave their homes to seek a new life. Many leave war-torn lands where lives were constantly at risk, where persecution was a daily reality, where freedoms were few and where escape was a dangerous and heart-wrenching ordeal. In fleeing, many leave behind not only their homes and belongings but family members and friends. There are many, too, who come without these acute pressures but for whom the prospect of life in a new country still holds great promise.

There are those for whom life has always been lived as a member of a minority group, with the associated struggles being all too familiar. In this process, some develop a degree of resilience and determination to preserve and maintain their culture at all costs. Similarly, the struggle may be for religious maintenance, where the individual may be part of the cultural and social majority but the religious minority.

The place of language in all of these scenarios differs accordingly. Many people come from bilingual and multilingual societies where different languages play different roles in the varying domains of life – such as work, school, home and religion – and where multilingualism is the norm and not the exception. Australia is extolled as a 'multicultural' society but the degree of multilingualism that it allows for is, in some senses, limited. Those from non-English-speaking backgrounds who come as monolinguals soon find that English is the language expected in almost every public domain. Under such circumstances English often extends to become the norm in the private domain as well.

While the religious expression of the Christian involves corporate worship and fellowship, part of the uniqueness of Christianity lies in the belief that one can enjoy a personal relationship with God, with 'one-on-one' communication. A Christian's language resources for use in the religious domain are, therefore, great because God is perceived as most Holy and most intimate all at once. The variety of language or languages a Christian uses in religious expression is a reflection of this and often of which aspect of the relationship the Christian feels is to be emphasised. In general terms, some may choose to use as a mark of veneration a language or variety of language which they deem to have a higher status and, in doing so, accord God the highest possible status. In contrast, a more colloquial type of language may be used – the variety used with close friends and family – as an expression of the intimacy of this relationship with God. And, of course, the Christian community, made up of a number of individuals each in relationship with God, reflects these language choices on a macro scale.

In the present work, the language needs, habits and preferences of Christian migrants will be explored as they are realised in 16 ethnic congregations in Melbourne, in order to move towards a more thoroughly documented response to the question of what is the role of language in ethnic churches?

The congregations involved in this study were selected for their ability to represent the heterogeneity of migrant communities in Melbourne. While some congregations were chosen because their members were part of the largest and most influential ethnic communities in Melbourne (such as Greek and Italian), others were chosen because of their relative 'obscurity' in Melbourne's cultural landscape (Oromo, for example). Importantly, they each represent different periods of Australia's migration history, as well as different languages, cultural backgrounds and religious orientations.

In some cases, the congregation chosen is both part of the ethnic community most commonly associated with a particular denomination and part of the denomination most commonly associated with their culture (such as Greeks in the Orthodox Church). In other cases, the congregation chosen may be part of a denomination which is not the dominant Christian grouping of their culture (such as Arabic speakers in the Baptist Church, when the majority of Arabic-speaking Christians are members of the Maronite, Melkite and Orthodox Churches).

In selecting the congregations for this study, it was determined that they should be members of, or closely affiliated with, the larger 'mainstream' denominations, i.e. not members of independent, unaffiliated churches. This was largely done to facilitate the collection of supporting material and to enable comparison between the experiences of different ethnic groups within the same denomination.

The 16 congregations which are the focus of this research are, therefore, from the Anglican Church of Australia – Chinese (Hakka) and Persian; from the Baptist Church – Arabic and Spanish; from the Lutheran Church of Australia – German, Latvian and Slovak; from the Reformed Churches of Australia – English (of Dutch heritage) and Chinese (Mandarin); from the Uniting Church in Australia – Indonesian, Oromo and Tamil; from the Catholic Church – Croatian and Italian; and from the Orthodox Church – Greek and Russian.

Two of these congregations – the Latvian Lutheran and the Indonesian Uniting – form case studies, enabling this research to illuminate the experiences of ethnic churches at both the macro and micro level.

The research is presented in four main sections. In order to establish the context of the study, a review of literature on multiculturalism and the Christian Church, relevant theories of language maintenance and a discussion of the role of language in the religious domain are provided in the remainder of the present chapter. This is further enhanced by a...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Multilingual Matters
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2004
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1853597368
• ISBN 13: 9781853597367
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 232
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar